Like many rappers, Young Jeezy has spent a good deal of his career collaborating with other performers, including Kanye West, Rihanna, Usher and Akon. For Jeezy's show in Cincy Friday, we can’t promise any dream-team collaborations will go down, but we can promise one hell of a party.   

Sexton’s music has been described as Folk, Soul and Rock. He plays all of those and much more. Traveling and performing mostly with just his acoustic guitar, the Folk descriptor is an easy place to land. His finger-style playing and experiments with distortion land him in the Soul and Rock genres. But it’s his mellow, distinctive voice and soul-baring lyrics makes him worthy of attention.  

There are protesters who have been standing outside of a pediatrician’s office almost daily since at least the summer. Why? Someone else in that same tiny complex is offering abortions. A woman who has taken her special needs daughter to that pediatrician’s office for more than 20 years was recently told by her minister’s wife that she needed to switch pediatricians. Abortion is “murder,” of course, so going anywhere near the “scene of the crime” must make her a co-conspirator. On the opposite side of town is a Catholic organization made up of young people who were praying the rosary daily in hopes of a veto on the law that required Catholic employers to provide health care that included birth control coverage. Furthering their attack on small families are two Republican candidates for president. Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney seem to want to reverse the bill that legalized the sale of contraception. Yes, the Bible says “Be fruitful.” The Bible also says to take care of children. Statistics from UNICEF report that in 2009 roughly 2.1 million children are currently orphaned in America. Who is taking care of them? Should anyone be so adamantly against birth control when they’re also clearly unwilling to help take care of the result from a lack of birth control? Before abortion was legalized, women were forced to take to back alleys in order to end unwanted pregnancies. Those terminations consisted of the use of things like scalding water or hangers. Many women contracted infections from those unsterile and unsafe methods. Too many women died from those infections. Why wasn’t anyone looking out for them? Many of the comments we’ve received at CityBeat in response to coverage of these issues have focused on the sinfulness of abortion and birth control (and, of course, homosexuality). Why are they overlooking all the other “sins” the bible suggests?Click the jump for a list of all the crazy things the Old Testament says are also sins.   

Depending on how specific you get with your generalizing, genres can be vague or finite. Generally speaking, one cannot be “in a relationship.” That relationship must be defined. Casual or serious?  Straight or homosexual? Open or monogamous? Films are Rom Coms, Thriller or Family. Nothing, though, has been more categorized than music.
 
Metal is no longer just Metal. It is De...  

Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if members of boy bands were replaced with “boys” who could actually play and write songs? They could still be dreamy, just also, you know, talented. Yonder Mountain String Band is a perfect example of what an Utopian boy band might look and sound like. YMSB uses traditional instrumentation (mandolin, banjo, upright bass and acoustic guitar) balanced with harsher, less Appalachian-y vocals.  

As exciting as it is to have The Black Keys back in Ohio to kick off their first arena tour, you should also be stoked for opening act The Arctic Monkeys. Heralded as leaders of the U.K. Post-Punk revival, Alex Turner and Co. make a noise akin to what The Clash and Sex Pistols were doing 40 years ago. Jolting guitars and screamed, feisty lyrics make up much of The Arctic Monkeys’ four albums
  

It’s safe to say that when a band is formed to cover up a college kid’s half-baked plan, it usually doesn’t last. Dirty Guv’nahs are the exception, forming in 2006 when bassist Justin Haskins volunteered his nonexistent group for a benefit. Between roommates and random connections, the fictional band became real enough to rehearse. During that first performance, they discovered they were actually pretty good.
  

There are certain musicians that have such unique, stirring voices, sometimes I want to press my fingers to their necks and feel the vibrations. Mike Doughty has one of those voices. He has a natural reverberation that makes every syllable sound like it traveled up through a canyon in his throat. That’s why Soul Coughing was such a success and, undoubtedly, a big reason for the packed-in crowd a...  

It’s been eight and a half years, four albums and an almost entirely new set of members since Heartless Bastards began performing as a new band in Cincinnati's small clubs. This time around, the Bastards came back to their breeding ground as an Austin, Tex., band and played to a packed house at Madison Theater in Covington.

For all intents and purposes, Saturday’s Heartless gig was very...  

If you are getting anxious to see strangers hugging, hear the sound of finger rolls on a fiddle or taking a few nips of Jameson, don’t panic. You don’t have to wait for St. Patty’s Day. Just try